PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — What makes a tweet go viral? Well, one local professor recently found out.
Mark Leuchter teaches religion at Temple University, but this semester, he’s on sabbatical while working on a book at the University of Michigan, his alma mater.
In an effort to do something nice for the undergrad students who live in his building, Leuchter decided to hold an essay-writing seminar, which he’s done before at Temple.
The hook, of course, was free pizza.
“Maybe I could give something back to [undergrads] because they’re kind of inspiring,” said the 49-year old.
“At 7, I laid out the pizzas and thought, ‘Yeah, let’s do some good!’ ”Leuchter said. “Then a half-hour later, I was like, ‘No. No good came of this at all.’ ”
Not a single student showed up, leaving Leuchter defeated — and with four uneaten pies.
“I’m a sensitive guy,” he admitted. “I was all heartbroken.”
Bummed about the lack of turnout, Leuchter took to Twitter to express his disappointment.
Then, as these things sometimes do, the tweet went viral.
“It touched a nerve. I guess some people feel really, really strongly about pizza,” Leuchter joked.
What does Leuchter’s story tell us about human behavior? And, is it possible for a viral tweet to have a happy ending? Leuchter talks about it all on a bonus episode of KYW Newsradio’s The Rundown. Listen to the full episode in the player below.
